San Diego Gas & Electric says it's addressing a range of environmental concerns in a revised application to build the controversial Sunrise Powerlink. The transmission line would deliver 1,000 megawatts of electricity to San Diego from Imperial County. But environmentalists say the line still runs through the Anza-Borrego desert. KPBS Radio's Andrew Phelps has details.
The revised route now avoids neighborhoods in Ramona and goes underground when it reaches Rancho Penasquitos.
But environmentalists like Kelly Fuller of the Sierra Club say a truly eco-friendly project would not run through a state park.
Fuller: "What SDG&E is proposing to put through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park are poles that would be anywhere from 150 to 160 feet high, and they would be loud, crackling, and humming."
SDG&E vice president Jim Avery says the project would run along existing roads and replace existing transmission towers. Although the new towers would be taller and more conspicuous, Avery notes there would be half as many. For KPBS, I'm Andrew Phelps.
